Runaway across the sea

Chapter 2: Nature vs. Nurture

1 In a twilight of September 1963, I was conceived. Inside a lambent-lit deluxe room at Bellevue Hospital. My sibling Cheska purported of how both my eyes were agape widely during my delivery. She was a witness to everything else, in momentary she became my older sister. A different embarkation is how I met the first lady of my life at this instant. Her gentlest of touch and purest of voice were my safety net and comfort. Adding that my life was a gift bequeath by her and that no one could ever commandeer or replace. Beloved and Guidance, I freely obtain it all from her, my Mom. My freshly inhabitance occupied right beside her. Cheska had relinquished that an endless supply of bewailing came from such a diminutive and pinkish frame. Mother's infectious simpering made my sister elated too, when our matriarch carried me next in her direction. We ended up bosom to bosom. Somehow, according to my sister, that impeded me from further weeping. Meanwhile, Cheska had outspread her hearing onto my littlest chest equally. She collected a dozen fleet but infinite beatings from my tiny organ of a heart. As one of the awaited teachers of my eventual being, she had her smile elongated afar more than customary. Taking all of my primary encounters in to forethought, I faintly remembered of my mother's scent the most. Coming from her mouth cascading to her neckline, it was the first fragrance I chanced upon from my inception; I vouch such with my longevity on the line. It might have been the very root of my pacification to the world that I have a rudimentary meeting with. Top-of-the-line surgeons went in to scope if everything has shown improvements. They informed her that in someway a miracle granted her grace. 'Failure to progress' was not initially diagnosed, and almost elemented as a very serious analysis to both mother and child. Those physicians could not wrapped their concerted marbles around as to what unnatural forces came out to play. They, for certain, aided our condition. On the other hand, the outstanding of the collection reiterated that Cesarean section was to be their hindmost measure. None foresight, I instead come forth like an octave from a minuscule trumpet blown by an enormous blue whale. Coupled with me on my harmless passage that night was a full moon. Seems as if the gravity from one of the misconstrued orb throughout history has bestowed a helping hand to my mother in pushing me out favorably. That is where the family business might have been traced after, 'The Crescent Ledger Daily', although I doubt he paid attention to what genuinely ensued then. One way or the other, the timeworn satellite gave the impression that it permitted me to be healthy. As such, both mom and Cheska even went ahead to speculate that La Luna is my muse. I interpreted it before as some indication that I was meant to behold the world in diverse aspects; in both night and day, without deterrent nor obstructed deviation. Although, I strongly gathered that Robert, my father, had not since recon the same. The kind of man that nothing secondary should come less for the CEO himself. Probably, he had the same stern grimace when he first laid eyes on me, parallel to what he consistently had while I was succumbing to my own; as it were contrary nowadays. I doubt this has something to do with any of his abounding expectations from me. Or maybe, he just floundered as a father and won't acknowledge it. His discontent added when three months later, a politician and his legacy were curtailed abruptly shortly thereafter. A dignitary in his own right, Robert and America's surplus' voters have had endless respect for this man. So much so, he was very much known by three letters, JFK. The statesman was an endearing leader, truly. His assassination emerged as the biggest atrocity the nation has ever faced in those prolonged days. Not only did this country mourn for his eternal silence but the whole world paid tribute. His fall was attuned to everybody watching from their television sets. And we were included along the unfolding of those events. Being half a calendar away, it was a familiar notion of me barely harboring any consciousness then. I comprehended all their sorrows nonetheless, especially that of my father's own. Thus, I am ingrained to be his prodigious disappointment at the very start. My mother, in different circumstances, pegged herself as one dearest supporter and would always encourage me to see life wherever, disregarding any limitations set by anybody or by myself. Her conviction once equated to my confidence, that I can be someone apt to be free and ready to set my own sails. And I, confidently believed her vocables and similes of encouragement...May you pardon me for my brashness, I was getting ahead. Let me carry over at the beginning...When the stork brought me to a neighborhood where stoops aligned sideways, this youngest Bailey was draped in white sheeting. A place where the next years of my life will bear hardships and the base of my aspirations will crumble gradually onward. The menage house is occupying a three-bedroom apartment at 142 East 18th Street, Manhattan. One's notion upon entering our humble abode is that ventilation is quite restricted for inhalation alone and nothing else. It may be the many amalgamation of vintage and contemporary arts that you perceive around its walls. It was a mental challenge residing in a space that seems too small for growth and yet to wide for a son to build a relationship with his father. Although, if my sister maintains achieving it then I also deduced of producing the same outcome. Monochromatic dwelling of the color Brown, the enclosures and ceilings were entirely coated and varnished in distilled amber. For the most part, it was Robert's way of stomping his foot down exclaiming that we are akin to the rest of the humdrum population in Manhattan. Our creativity were stunted. Deliberate or not, we were to be mundane at best or lack thereof. It helps that tinges of Green were there somewhat to balance everything else devoid. That is the point where Mom's potted foliage crosses the threshold against severity. She basically started gardening again on our breadth, when I was birthed; later, transcending atop the rooftop of our building. In display outside the terrace balcony, it was a source of relaxation for her. Soon enough, for me likewise when I amass furthermore annual rings in my life. Awhile gaining the height at hand, I was indeed a novice to aplenty of wants. Never as much from our place of residence but more so from Robert. At the age of two, the family employed a nanny addressed as Laverne. She was a buxom-sized of a woman except an attendant that does her job fittingly in all definitions of satisfactory. The women in my life and her reciprocated a great camaraderie. Cheska did not falter in considering her as our long lost aunt. I can attest that I cared for her deeply too. My wavy haired caretaker was prideful upon observing below on the little tyke under her care. She heeded a handful of worthy moments from my growth. One personal milestone was learning my first steps. The male totalitarian of the household on the other hand was plain impartial,"He surely took his time.", said he alone. Supposedly, the amused expression of my nanny turned to 180 degrees the moment Robert dismissed those words. Bless Laverne a million times over as she was not downtrodden by any of his display from thereon till since. She was brimming with so much suggestion that she advanced pass family matters, suggesting Robert to allot more hours with us as his future and most weighty investment. An astonishment it was not, when she was to retire right afterwards, only shy away from my 6th birthday. Laverne heads out the veranda but raises her head to gesture her goodbye. Still vivid are those memories of her shedding a tear for her two other children beside her own. Cheska and I would have arranged a clandestine meeting with her young ones just to say how we envy them so richly. All things considered, Robert awarded her a hefty severance pay, enough proceeds for her children's chosen universities later on. Cause for Robert, when money talks, people definitely listens. Another neglected benchmark, my peradventure in learning to board the skates. This would already be 24 months in or so posterior to our nanny's parting. Not once did he strive offering his knowledge nor he practiced with me, an unwelcomed critic he became despite that and to inform his son why I only partaken in one move. As you can comprehend, my father is the typical man-in-a-suit. For him, the Cresent has never been stationed subsidiary to none, that including his decrepit family and our baggage aside. He was and never is about any empathy or building relationships. There was one blinking moment I highly suspected he could ever be that emotionless mannequin, merely treading in and around the apartment apart from barring his brood's existence. I always sheltered that doubt out of necessity. In the wake of me turning 10, a crevice arose in staggering of ways. I vaguely captured my mother as sedentary and fixated across the dresser drawer and her enclosed reflection. He permeated through the doors, turned on their records and danced with her to his utmost. They were so full of jubilation. How I yearned for her placement then, to be of solitary soul ever to receive his genuine smile and contentment. He made her so happy. Camouflaged of yesterday's laundry, I giggled at their prompt dismissal of false bearings and just waltz away. The prospect of my naivety from the edge of that hamper was never ending. Averse that dearest exhibition, it bewildered that pubescent heart if his father has any other facets opposite the one he recognizes everyday. 1